Friday, May 16th, 2008
More proof the US Congress (and downstream courts) have not kept up with a changing world
A smirk of “when will this nonsense end” crossed my face as I read another Ars article this time covering issues with copyright and the impact on average American citizens. I too had once been turned away for trying to have an old family portrait professionally retouched. The issue? We did not have written permission from the copyright holder so they wouldn’t do the work for me. I went home and did it myself with a scanner and Photoshop. Sue me.
The photographer was long gone, I knew it was taken before the CTEA and the 28 yr renewal requirement had been in effect. Let’s be realistic - who would know which of his decedents (if you could find them) had been bequeathed his rights in an old family portrait from many years ago? If no one had inherited the rights, then what? Take the entire family (if you can find them) to court to figure it out?
Personally, I think it’s ridiculous that non-commercial photographs are not excluded or carved out from the copyright law today. Yes, it may disrupt how some photographers charge today, but they can change their billing methods. Let’s be honest: how hard would it be for you to just scan in your picture and reprint a billion of them vs finding a photographer from 30 yrs ago? Think of Snapfish - do you have authorization to print pictures your friend (the copyright holder) posted on their account and shared with you? Snapfish will print and deliver them to you - has Snapfish violated their copyright? I haven’t read Snapfish’s terms or agreements, but you can see how ridiculous this can get.
If you can’t tell, these issues where we have refused to modernize our legislation and/our court precedent fire me up. While I understand that oil, energy, and Iraq are very important issues in the US, these arcane principles that we have not adjusted for the modern world really do prohibit our society from advancing and innovating. Instead of taking new technologies and riding their full potential, the innovators are constantly caught up in a complex web of vague/loose rights that make it impossible to move forward. This ties right into the software patent post from earlier today.
Let’s wake up - our founding fathers never imagined a system whereby people could instantly share photos over an internet at will. Heck, at the time of signing the Constitution, photography “as a usable process” hadn’t been invented yet - it’s time to update our systems!
Many lawyers and scholars will argue that we can accomodate new technologies with the existing system. Sure, they love the existing system. It’s vague, complex, and crazy enough that they can bill hours for a lifetime.
I disagree - the issue is not whether a particular ruling can be expanding to cover a new technology or advancement. Sure, we can keep expanding/contracting the scope of rulings for another thousand years. The real issue is what do we in today’s society truly consider to be intellectual property and who do we consider to be the owner of those rights? Finally, are the current laws around this intellectual property still granting the right (as in proper) permissions? For instance, have you considered that your family photograph is under copyright by the photographer for 70 years after his/her death! Yes, unless you signed an agreement otherwise, your wedding, family, and other photographer-taken pictures are owned by your photographer and his/her decedents.
The US used to require a renewal of copyright after 28 years in order to continue holding your exclusive rights. (ahem, then Disney came along and took over the copyright system) I think it’s time to update the entire system bringing all walks of copyright holders to the tables and systematically update our system to align with a modern world one piece of IP at a time. In my humble opinion ;-)
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